The Jets’ playoff chances disappeared before their 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Winnipeg finished ninth in the Eastern Conference, one spot out of the playoffs and better than last season.

“I’m going to have a hard time drawing on any positives you know, when you’re going home and watching the important hockey being played from your couch again,” Wheeler said.

“Hopefully, we can all look in the mirror and make a change, I think we’re on the right path, but ninth place is a first-class ticket home.”

The Jets were ahead 2-1 as they started the third period, but most already knew their result wouldn’t be enough to advance.

“We knew after the second we are out,” goaltender Ondrej Pavelec said.

“It’s not an excuse at all but it’s tough to play when you know you’ve got 20 minutes left in the season.”

Both the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators clinched playoff spots with overtime wins Thursday night.

David Desharnais scored the go-ahead goal for Montreal, which came on strong in the third. Rene Bourque, Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher had the others as the Canadiens (28-14-5) broke out of a slump that had seen them lose five of their previous six games.

James Wright and Wheeler scored for the Jets, who finished the season 24-21-3.

Montreal’s win keeps it in the hunt for the top spot in the Northeast Division where it remain tied with Boston.

But the win guarantees the Canadiens at least fourth in the East and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“It’s a big win against a desperate team,” Montreal captain Brian Gionta said.

“It’s huge. Home ice is really big in the playoffs. … You keep forcing plays, you keep being relentless on the puck, eventually they’re going to turn it over and they’re going to get tired and we took advantage in the third.”

Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban, who had two assists Thursday night, agreed with his captain.

“You want to use that fan base to your advantage. Now that we’ve got home-ice advantage we want to use that.”

The game started well for the Jets.

Chris Thorburn and Wright teamed up in the first to put the Jets ahead 1-0. Wright’s wrist shot from the slot found the upper corner of the Montreal net.

But the Canadiens still managed to spend a lot of time in Winnipeg’s zone.

The Jets were outshot 8-5 in the first and had managed only two more midway through the second when Bourque evened things up.

His shot from the faceoff circle found its way through a mad scramble in front of the Winnipeg net.

Wheeler put the Jets ahead again about five minutes later when he dug a puck out of a scrambling Carey Price in front of the Montreal net and slipped it in.

The third was only about two minutes old when Pavelec intercepted Gallagher’s shot, only to see it rise high in the air and bounce behind him, dribbling over the line before he could grab it.

Desharnais then scored on a 5-on-3 in the third to put the Canadians ahead for the first time.

Pacioretty scored later in the period for a little insurance.

The Jets looked like a good bet to make the postseason until a five-game slide. Even a 6-1-1 record in their last eight games failed to make up all the lost ground.

Their only chance was to win Thursday and have both New York and Ottawa lose all their remaining games.

Coach Claude Noel said he would talk about Winnipeg’s season and future Friday and confined his brief comments to the game.

“I thought the game was OK. They spent too much time in our zone, which I didn’t really like. … I would have liked us to play with a little more zip in the first two periods,” he said.

Note: Jets captain and scoring leader Andrew Ladd finished the season with the best points-per-game average by a Jets (Thrashers) player since Ilya Kovalchuk in 2008-09.

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The Canadiens earned their third straight win Saturday night when Brendan Gallagher and Rene Bourque each had a goal and an assist in a 4-1 victory over the sagging Philadelphia Flyers.

The win came a week to the day after a 6-0 whitewashing by Toronto at the Bell Centre.

Defenseman Josh Gorges said the club did right to forget that defeat and focus on the games ahead.

“I thought the way we handled that game, with (Erik) Cole getting the guys together, guys talking and coming back to work the right way. … You can lick your wounds and feel sorry for yourselves and point fingers, but instead of doing that we decided to look in the mirror, and be accountable and get better,” Gorges said. “We had a good week.”

The Canadiens rebounded with a 4-3 shootout win at Tampa Bay on Tuesday night and a 1-0 overtime win over the Panthers in Florida on Thursday before putting away Philadelphia.

“It was important to bounce back,” coach Michel Therrien said. “We got better each game. I like how we competed. I couldn’t ask for more.”

David Desharnais and Tomas Plekanec also scored for the Canadiens, while backup Peter Budaj got his first win in three starts this season while filling in for Carey Price, who was at home sick. Max Pacioretty and Brian Gionta each had a pair of assists.

Daniel Briere had the lone goal for the Flyers, who have lost three of their last four and looked tired and listless as they were outshot 29-19. The Flyers had only seven shots when Briere scored more than halfway through the second period.

Captain Claude Giroux’s concern with his team’s flat play was evident when he spoke after the game.

“There’s no compete,” he said. “We’re not winning battles.

“We’re just going through the motions. You know, we’re a young team that can skate. We should be winning more battles than this. It’s just frustrating to see. I know I have to be better, but a team is 20 guys and you need everybody to show up.”

Brian Boucher started in place of Ilya Bryzgalov and had little chance on the Montreal goals.

“Sometimes there are games where you go out there and see how it plays out,” Boucher said. “You don’t want to play the game that way. You want to be on the attack, on the balls of your feet. Maybe that was the case tonight.”

It may have been a costly win for Montreal, which has been healthy since the start of the season except for center Petteri Nokelainen’s back injury.

Gallagher left four minutes into the third period after he was checked into the boards by Luke Schenn, and Pacioretty exited the game after crashing either an elbow or his ribs into a goalpost after being hauled down by Kimmo Timonen at 11:52.

Therrien said both players had upper body injuries and would undergo tests to determine the extent of the problems.

Later, forward Colby Armstrong took a puck to face and went for treatment. And then defenseman Alexei Emelin struggled to the bench after being checked from behind by Giroux, although he stayed in the game.

The Flyers were coming off a 5-3 loss to New Jersey on Friday night. They were outshot 12-2 in the opening period but Boucher kept them in the game.

Gallagher got his fifth of the season at 8:53 after taking a feed from Pacioretty and putting a nifty move on Timonen before scoring on a low shot.

Gallagher and Pacioretty combined again to feed Desharnais alone in front 1:15 into the second frame.

Defenseman P.K. Subban made a sprawling save after Budaj misplayed a puck behind his crease, but the shutout was broken moments later when Briere put a shot in off Andrei Markov’s leg at 13:56.

Plekanec got his seventh of the season 4:32 into the third as he took his own rebound off defenseman Braydon Coburn and fired it past the sprawled Boucher.

Bourque was credited with an empty-net goal at 18:56.

Game notes

Goalie Robert Mayer was called up from AHL Hamilton to back up Budaj. … Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin, hit on the face by a puck in the preseason, has traded in his face cage for a visor. … Ryan White, Yannick Weber and Tomas Kaberle were scratched for Montreal. The Flyers sat out Kurtis Foster, Herry Zolnierczyk and Tom Sestito.

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